information

I'm writing a short text on "information" for the collection Digital Keywords edited by Ben Peters and to be published by Princeton University Press. Lots of great folks will be in there like Gabriella Coleman, Jonathan Sterne, Fred Turner and Sharrona Pearl. The rough draft of the introduction to my text is below. Eventually some this will show up in revised form in the book based on my dissertation. If you have any ideas, get in touch. And I welcome feedback from anyone who feels like looking at the full text!

Information in Formation

I think perhaps the word ‘information’ is causing more trouble in this connection than it is worth, except that it is difficult to find another that is anywhere near right.

–Claude Shannon

Why is there a theory of information rather than none? That, in brief, is the subject of this short essay. (1)